Who are the big dogs of online higher education? Some of the schools with the highest online student enrollment may surprise you. With data from our Online Higher Education Market Update, here’s our ranking of the top 50 online colleges and universities in the United States by headcount.

A few notes:

This ranking is based entirely on our estimates of headcount. Our sources for this data include internal data, data we’ve received directly from schools, IPEDS, and the SEC. For the purposes of this ranking, Eduventures defines online headcount as the unique number of for-credit students enrolled in programs delivered at least 80% online at U.S. degree-granting, Title IV eligible colleges and universities. The ranking concerns Fall 2012, not cumulative headcount over an academic or calendar year.

The ranking draws an (imperfect) distinction between online brands fronting smaller consortia encompassing relatively modest institutional diversity (e.g. UMassOnline), which are included, and brands that span a much larger range of schools (e.g. SUNY Learning Network), which are excluded. We welcome comments on this distinction.

If your college or university is on the list but think our numbers are wrong, or is not on the list and think you should be, please let us know at info@eduventures.com.

Without further ado, here are our top 50 online colleges and universities by headcount. Flip through the slideshow, or read down the full list below:

1) University of Phoenix

Estimated Headcount: 270,000

Type of School: For Profit

2) American Public University System

Estimated Headcount: 124,000

Type of School: For Profit

3) Ashford University

Estimated Headcount: 89,000

Type of School: For Profit

4) Liberty University

Estimated Headcount: 60,000

Type of School: Private

5) Kaplan University

Estimated Headcount: 48,000

Type of School: For Profit

6) Walden University

Estimated Headcount: 46,000

Type of School: For Profit

7) Grand Canyon University

Estimated Headcount: 45,000

Type of School: For Profit

8) University of Maryland – University College

Estimated Headcount: 44,000

Type of School: Public

9) Capella University

Estimated Headcount: 36,000

Type of School: For Profit

10) Western Governors University

Estimated Headcount: 36,000

Type of School: Private

11) DeVry University

Estimated Headcount:34,000

Type of School: For Profit

12) Strayer University

Estimated Headcount: 30,000

Type of School: For Profit

13) Corinthian Colleges

Estimated Headcount: 30,000

Includes Everest College

Type of School: For Profit

14) Education Management Corporation

Estimated Headcount: 30,000

Includes Argosy University, South University & The Art Institutes

Type of School: For Profit

15) UMass Online

Estimated Headcount: 22,000

Type of School: Public

16) Thomas Edison State College

Estimated Headcount: 20,500

Type of School: Public

17) Colorado Technical University Online

Estimated Headcount: 20,000

Type of School: For Profit

18) Rio Salado College

Estimated Headcount: 20,000

Type of School: Public

19) Columbia Southern University

Estimated Headcount: 15,000

Type of School: For Profit

20) Central Texas College

Estimated Headcount: 15,000

Type of School: Public

21) Troy University

Estimated Headcount: 14,000

Type of School: Public

22) Penn State World Campus

Estimated Headcount: 12,000

Type of School: Public

23) Nova Southeastern University

Estimated Headcount: 12,000

Type of School: Private

24) American Intercontinental University

Estimated Headcount: 11,000

Type of School: For Profit

25) Southern New Hampshire University

Estimated Headcount: 11,000

Type of School: Private

26) Columbia College of Missouri

Estimated Headcount: 10,000

Type of School: Private

27) Northcentral University

Estimated Headcount: 9,000

Type of School: For Profit

28) ITT

Estimated Headcount: 9,000

Type of School: For Profit

29) Grantham University

Estimated Headcount: 9,000

Type of School: For Profit

30) Fort Hays State University

Estimated Headcount: 8,500

Type of School: Public

31) Pima Community College

Estimated Headcount: 8,400

Type of School: Public

32) National University

Estimated Headcount: 8,000

Type of School: Private

33) Indiana Wesleyan University

Estimated Headcount: 7,000

Type of School: Private

34) Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Estimated Headcount: 7,000

Type of School: Private

35) Arizona State University

Estimated Headcount: 7,000

Type of School: Public

36) Colorado State University – Global Campus

Estimated Headcount: 6,500

Type of School: Public

37) National American University

Estimated Headcount: 6,000

Type of School: For Profit

38) Baker College

Estimated Headcount: 6,000

Type of School: Private

39) University of Cincinnati

Estimated Headcount: 6,000

Type of School: Public

40) Lone Star College System

Estimated Headcount: 6,000

Type of School: Public

41) University of Central Florida

Estimated Headcount: 6,000

Type of School: Public

42) Webster University

Estimated Headcount: 6,000

Type of School: Private

43) Empire State College

Estimated Headcount: 5,500

Type of School: Public

44) Drexel University

Estimated Headcount: 5,500

Type of School: Private

45) East Carolina University

Estimated Headcount: 5,400

Type of School: Public

46) Colorado Christian University

Estimated Headcount: 5,100

Type of School: Private

47) University of Texas at Arlington

Estimated Headcount: 5,000

Type of School: Public

48) Northeastern University

Estimated Headcount: 5,000

Type of School: Private

49) Bellevue University

Estimated Headcount: 5,000

Type of School: Private

50) Franklin University

I’m not sure this is apples to apples. For example UMass Online is counted as a single institution (it’s not – it’s a system initiative with multiple campuses involved). I think that if you included the SUNY Learning Network (SLN) as you do Umass Online that SLN would be higher up in the rankings. Currently you have just one SUNY college (Empire State College). Even their numbers may be 50%+ higher than reported here. For example” “The Center for Distance Learning (n=8,125) accounted for 43.0% of the total undergraduate headcount increasing by 5.2% (n=405) from the previous year.”

Peter- thanks for your comment. You’re right that we face some tough choices when deciding what is a consortia and what is a single entity, for the purposes of our Top 50. The line we drew was between online brands fronting smaller consortia encompassing relatively modest institutional diversity (e.g. UMassOnline), and the likes of SUNY Learning Network which spans a much larger number and range of schools.

Agreed, this is not a perfect distinction.

BTW- our Empire State College numbers came from the school itself, but happy to revise if you have more up-to-date information.

Nova Southeastern is not an online university. They have multiple campuses. They are a private, non-profit Carnegie classification 2 research university that happens to offer online courses. The 12,000 students mentioned is less than half the total student population.

Rob- thanks for your message. I think you may have misunderstood the focus of our ranking. Very few of the schools ranked are online universities or colleges only. The vast majority, including Nova, also have physical campuses. Our ranking concerns online student headcount, regardless of school type. As you imply, many Nova students are not studying wholly or primarily online.